'He was doing so much behind the scenes that people did not see' - Mark Wood opens up on Joe Root's stepping down as Test captain

Joe Root stepped down as England’s Test captain last month due to the team’s underwhelming performances in the last 12 months. While his successor Ben Stokes recently came forward and paid tribute to him for being a good leader, pacer Mark Wood has also lauded his contributions in red-ball cricket.

Wood has also admitted that Root was let down by England during his captaincy tenure. He added that even though Root did everything that he could improve the results, things just did not fall in place.

“I do feel sorry for Joe. I think it’s worth saying that. I actually did really well under Joe’s captaincy myself. He gave me an opportunity, even with injury, he could have quite easily have said, ‘no, that’s enough’. But he’s stuck with me and gave me a clear plan. I felt like we let him down quite a bit. He was doing so much behind the scenes that people don’t see,” said Mark Wood while speaking on the Podcast ‘Middle Please, Umpire’.

“He would stay behind and work on batting with me after his net. He was doing so much with trying to get it right, the culture of the team, he was getting people in to do sessions and he did everything he could to try and improve the results but it just wasn’t happening. But I’m happy he’s made the decision. If it’s affecting him as a person behind the scenes at home or with his family, then that’s no good,” he added.

Wood enjoyed tremendous success under Root’s reign as he registered 55 scalps to his name from 17 matches at an  average of 29.94. He could have added more to his tally had his West Indies tour not been cut short due to an elbow injury.

The injury later went on to rule him out from the ongoing IPL 2022 where he was supposed to represent the new entrants Lucknow Super Giants. LSG went on to sign Australian speedster Andrew Tye as Wood’s replacement. Meanwhile, star all-rounder Stokes will be leading the Three Lions in red-ball cricket while Gary Kirsten is likely to be appointed as the Test coach.